


You're Hunting What?

by ALittleBitofLee



Category: Ghost Hunt, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Badass Harry, F/M, Harry would make a good housewife, M/M, Masako is in like 2 chapters, The rape is background for a case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2018-10-17 20:25:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10601589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALittleBitofLee/pseuds/ALittleBitofLee
Summary: Harry thought walking through the veil would solve all his problems. Unfortunately, as Master of Death he can't die yet; even if he has to live in a parallel universe.(There's a rewrite and this version is discontinued)





	1. Prologue and the Police

**Author's Note:**

> The chapters will not start to get long until the main story line. There is no update schedule, sorry. Will update when I write. I am looking for a beta though if anyone wants to volunteer.
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or Ghost Hunt

Prologue

  
By this point, he was beyond annoyed.  
  
Seriously. How was this even his life? It seemed no matter where he went fucked up shit always happened to him. He just so happened to currently be sitting in a police station, in a foreign country, in some kind of parallel universe to his own. If he’d known walking through that bloody veil would have spat him out alive on the other side he would have taken a more permanent journey in the privacy of his own home.  
  
But no. It seemed that damn veil was a fucking doorway to some place where the magic was messed up and he couldn’t even get the bloody translation charms right. Now he just gets to sit here listening to foreign babble and looking like a god damned suicidal moron. Oh, did he forget to mention that he walked out of the veil and into a suicide forest? Seriously, what kind of fucked up peoples have a specific place to go and commit suicide. He was stuck wandering there for three fucking days with his magic acting wonky, not to mention the place was pretty fucking creepy.  
  
When he finally found the end of the damn forest he came out on a road with a god damned car coming straight at him. But instead of passing by, like any decent folk, the asshole had to go and pull over. Then he had to stand through him miming suicidal gestures once the driver figured out he had no clue what he was saying. That was a fun moment.  
  
Apparently you can’t just leave a suicidal foreigner on the side of the road. Whatever happened to common courtesy and mind your own business? Fucking good samaritans.  
So yay.  
  
Police station.  
  
Oh and did he forget to mention all the ghosts freaking everywhere?

  
Chapter 1

  
He figured the police were trying to ask him his name when they kept pointing to themselves and speaking and then pointing to him and waiting.  
  
“Harry Potter, British” he said. Hopefully they’ll tell him where he is. Hell, hopefully British is a thing here.  
  
“Ah, Eigo” the officer replied. Yet just when Harry opened his mouth to speak the officer turned to the guy standing near the desk and said something to him. When he turned back he said, “You wait. English.”  
  
Harry just nodded his head and looked around. The place looked pretty normal. Not that he knew what normal police stations looked like, but everyone seemed human, even the random dead people walking around were human. He supposed he should be thankful that he didn’t end up in some sort of alien world. Though knowing his luck it’s possible that it only looks normal superficially.  
  
When he turned back to the officer at the desk he noticed that the guy wasn’t even paying attention to him anymore. How was that safe? Aren’t you supposed to keep an eye on people in police stations? He shrugged.  
When the translator guy finally showed up Harry had already been sitting there for half an hour, but he knew better than to show his annoyance. The original officer finally looked up only to stand and walk off after a few words to the new officer.  
  
“Hello my name Akihide Takahasi. Can I get your name and date of birth?”  
  
“Harry Potter, thirty-first of July, 1980. Can I ask why I’m here exactly?” He replied.  
  
“Ano, the man who brought you in wasn’t sure if you were trying to commit suicide and decided to bring you here. We just need general information about the situation and then you’ll likely be free to go. You currently seem pretty stable.”  
  
Harry hummed quietly. He supposed he was technically trying to commit suicide when he walked through the veil, but that’s not what he was doing in the forest. So it’s not like he was really lying. “I just thought it’d be cool to follow a path in there, but then I got lost and ended up spending three days walking around before I stumbled out. It’s quite the creepy place, why would he think I was going to commit suicide?” By this point a lot of the ghosts in the room had been paying more attention to him than he’d like, so he was a bit tense.  
  
“I see you were unaware that that forest is particularly famous in Japan for suicides. We’ve been trying to change the image but it’s not going as well as we’d like. Do you need any help medically at the moment? Three days can be a long time to inadvertently camp out.”  
  
“No, I’m alright. I had a couple of waters with me and now I’m just extremely hungry,” Harry lied. “Is that all you needed? Am I free to go?”  
  
“Is there anyone we should contact for you?”  
  
“No thanks, I was initially just passing through and now I’m a few days late getting back home. I’ll just be grabbing some food and then heading back out of town. No forest stops this time,” he chuckled.  
  
“Alright then, you can head on out. Sorry for the bad experience and have a good day.”

 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped outside. None of those ghosts had followed him and it seemed he ended up in a place that’s not completely foreign to him. There was a Japan back home so it may be safe to assume that this really was a parallel world and the magic just seemed to revolve more around the dead than back home. He really needed to think about everything he had just learned.


	2. Thinking back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will probably be uploaded tomorrow
> 
> BOLD is Harry's thoughts

 

Chapter 2

He wasn’t sure where he was going so he just picked a direction and started walking. He had taken to keeping a shrunken chest in an expandable bag around his neck. He hadn’t had to take it off once since leaving the Forest of Dean with Ron and Hermione, but he did know it had more than enough inside of it for him to survive. Before the end of the war he had emptied out the Black vaults and all of the Black residences into the pouch just in case his “undesirable" status within the ministry reverted all of his godfather’s vaults back to the next living Black relative. He wasn’t sure who that would have been at the time. Those vaults had rivaled the Potter vaults in monetary value and were filled with books on the kinds of magic he hadn’t wanted used against him. He felt both relief and guilt that he still had all of its contents with him. On the one hand, he would have time to figure out what to do here, and maybe learn the language if he decided to stay; but on the other hand he had basically cheated Teddy out of his Black inheritance. He tried to console himself with the thought that he had left everything the Potters owned to Teddy, aside from the shares in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. And the few things he had left to Hermione and Ron. And over half the library that he had also taken and combined with the Black library. Shit. He was a horrible godfather. At least Teddy and a few generations after him would be financially set for life.  
  
Harry shook his head and pushed the thought from his mind. There was nothing he could do about it now. He had tried to find the return point to the veil in the forest when he realized he was alive but really, he didn’t try that hard. He didn’t actually want to go back, and he knew it was selfish of him, but no one knew who he was here. Aside from the few ghosts he’d passed on the street no one had even given him a second glance. He felt like a weight had lifted from his soul.

* * *

  
When he spotted a jeweler across the street he made his way over and exchanged a few galleons for a lot more money than he'd thought they were worth. Apparent pure gold was pretty rare and the pound to yen ratio he worked out in his head was pretty high. He knew he needed the money though so he tried not to think about the feeling of guilt that he took too much money for the gold.  
  
When he left he made his way to a café with outdoor seating. He wasn’t lying about being hungry. All the food he had on him was in the chest because it had preservation charms in it. Everything else was just floating around in the pouch. He was thankful now he had never gotten around to buying another chest for the library. He couldn’t chance unshrinking it at the moment, what with what had happened with his magic in the forest. He closed his eyes to think back on it.  
  
_When he had stumbled out into the forest he had looked around for a few seconds before he passed out. He felt like he had been both walking and standing still with no rest for years now._  
  
_Once he finally woke up he didn’t actually know how much time had passed. Everything was eerily quiet and smelled quite stale. It made no sense to him that he was in a forest. He couldn’t even hear any birds in the trees. He tensed up thinking that meant there was something dangerous around. After searching for an entrance back into the veil and to his world without success he tried to flick out his wand from its holster only to realize it wasn’t there. When he set his hand over the holster all he noticed was a burning pain._ **How am I only noticing that now? Shit.**  
  
_When he pulled up his sleeve he saw there was no holster on his arm. Instead there was a glowing red-orange feather that looked perfectly preserved just under the skin of his forearm. All around it and further up his arm were singed places. It honestly looked like his wand had exploded into his skin. What the fuck am I gonna do now? I don’t know any wandless magic dammit, I’m only 18 for fuck’s sake! “I need my wand!”_  
  
_He started heavily when he heard his voice echo aloud. Then even more so when a wand flew out of the bag around his neck. When he reached out automatically to grab it he was hit with a blinding headache and a conversation flowing into his ears._

_“Normally if you had passed into the veil you would end up in my realm. But as my master you are not currently allowed entrance. This is both a punishment and reward Harry James Potter. The Hallows will never part from you and eventually you will begin to absorb them until they become a part of your soul.”_  
  
_“What if I don’t want them?” Harry asked._  
  
_“Unfortunately, you do not have a choice Harry James Potter. You will age and die and age and die into and out of parallel worlds until the absorption process is complete. Because your old wand bonded to your soul and refused to leave you the moment you passed through the veil, the elder wand will take the longest time to settle. The two must come to peace with each other before finding a place inside of you.”_  
  
_“What does that even mean?” He demanded. “And who even are you?”_  
  
_He got the feeling the voice was staring at him and he shuffled his feet, a bit uncomfortable. “ I am Death, Harry James Potter, and you have mastered me. This means that eventually, in time, you will become me and I will just become. You do not yet have the power to see me in any form and even this conversation will cost you time. As for the wands, they are sentient of course. As part of living creations each wand chooses who to bond to. As two wands have chosen you, the two must now learn to coexist. Because of this, it will likely take you many lifetimes to be able to handle the full power of both wands.”_  
  
_Harry made to interrupt but Death just kept speaking over him._  
  
_“The cloak will also probably not be mastered completely within your next life. It is temperamental itself and has been trying for many generations to reattach itself to me. When you become Death, millennia from now, the cloak will officially settle down as you will then inherit the title and power from me. That does not mean you will be unable to use it. It will serve you well as long as you keep I with you.”_  
  
_“The stone though, is another matter entirely.”_  
  
_“How so?” he asked curiously._  
  
_“As you died and then made the choice to re-enter your former life, and then again made the choice to freely enter death, the stone has already become bonded to your soul. The souls of the past have seen and recognized you as kin. As such the full powers that come with the stone will be available to you in your continuing journey,” Death stated monotonously._  
  
_“And what are these powers that you’re talking about?”_  
  
_“The wands should be self-explanatory. As the cloak is now, it will shield you from dying but not from getting hurt, whether it be serious harm or not. Even life threatening hurts you will have to heal naturally from. The stone of course lets you call on the dead. However you are limited to only a few people from your old world and everyone from the new. Each time you start a new life the world previous to the one you died in will limit the number of summoned souls from that plane.”_  
  
_“What? But I thought the ring was all about letting you talk to any soul?” Harry exclaimed!_  
  
_“Yes, and because it is fully bonded to you already it makes it possible for you to summon a limited amount of people from the previous world that your soul has touched. I could not even give you a number as it depends on your own power. However, when you have mastered the wands and they are both one with each other and your soul, you will be able to pass between planes. As Death there is no limit to where you can go and who you can see.”_  
  
_“I have already been speaking to you for too long. The price will become too large for you to live normally if we continue speaking here. You will see my representatives throughout your long life as we cannot talk directly too often without a price. You must continue walking from here. Find your own doorway to pass through.”_  
_With that Harry was once again left alone to wander in the dark of the veil._

 

_He let go of the wand in his hand as though burned. That conversation seemed surreal to him. The only thing he remembered seeing during all that time was the doorway that eventually led him to here. When he picked up the dropped wand and got no memories he decided to look around. Wherever here was it was pretty fucking creepy. The forest didn’t seem to get a lot of light and that combined with the silence and thousands of close knit trees all around him led him to believe that he wasn’t anywhere near any kind of civilization. That meant it was safe to use a little magic to help him out until he found people._  
  
_He held the wand up and clearly stated “Aguamenti”._  
  
_A giant fucking river shot from his wand and blew him into the tree behind him. He released the wand reflexively and the stream of water stopped. He sat up dazed “the wands have to bond Harry, you haven’t mastered the wands Harry, they need to be one with your soul Harry” he muttered snidely in a mimic of Death’s monotone. He tried again without using the wand; instead just using the arm that had the feather embedded in it. While the stream was pathetically weak, at least it not only hydrated him but gave him information. The wand was too powerful to use for spells that needed little force behind them. Unless he was trying to kill someone. Which he hopefully wouldn’t need to do while he was here, but he liked to keep his options open. His feather arm, on the other hand, was too weak to do even moderate level spells so he’d have to experiment a bit. Plus he’d heard from Hermione once about how the hardest part of wandless magic was trying to use it purposely for the first time. After that it was supposed to be like a muscle that exercised the output from the magical core. So really, he already had the hardest part down thanks to his wand literally being embedded in his arm._  
  
_Weirdly, he felt the dissatisfaction from the elder wand at the thought that his old holly wand would be the one he would use. As a compromise he decided that he would strap the elder wand over the feather as soon as soon as he could so that the wands could maybe mix in the downtime. At that thought he felt resigned acceptance with an undertone of dislike from both wand cores._  
  
_Harry just shrugged it off and decided to start walking. He got a déjà vu moment the longer he walked. At least there was some light here though, not like within the veil. And now he was aiming for a destination instead of just wandering around hoping to hit something in the dark. Granted, he didn’t know his destination, but still._  
  
_What he assumed was his second night (because there was no telling how long he had slept) in the forest was even creepier than in the daytime. He couldn’t sustain a lumos that wasn’t blinding and his weak version highlighted all the shadowy things that seemed to be moving sinisterly in the dark. He honestly spent most of the night awake and jumping at things seen in the corner of his eye._  
  
_Although he was tired he decided to start walking again the moment he saw any form of light the next morning. Hopefully he was walking in the same direction as yesterday, because he really didn’t want to spend a third night in this forest. Eventually, the things he was seeing in the corner of his eyes finally manifested the knowledge in his mind that he was seeing ghosts._  
  
_When he tried to talk to one it looked at him and just kept walking. Even without words though, he figured that meant he was nearing some form of civilization. The more ghosts he passed, the more relaxed he became; he must be coming close to the edge of the forest. Really though, if they had tried to talk to him he would have been overwhelmed, so he was thankful that the ghosts here seemed to keep to themselves._  
  
_After a couple more minutes or hours or seconds, he wasn’t really sure, he finally stumbled out on to a road._

 

Harry startled when he heard the waitress trying to get his attention. “Ah. No Japanese.” He said apologetically.  
The waitress smiled and nodded and started to point to pictures on the menu to get his order. He ended up going with some kind of salad because he wasn’t sure what the heck the meat options were. He didn’t recognize any of them.  
  
He sighed in relief when he was presented with his food. He figured he’d take the time to think about what he learned about this place while he ate.


	3. Finally getting clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets to a hotel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yay chapter 3. Still looking for a beta if anyone is interested. I'm hoping to update 2 times a week so let's hope I keep to that because this will be a long fic.
> 
> -Lee

Chapter 3

Predictably, as had been the norm so far in this universe, the first thought Harry had about what he had learned was a selfish one. That thought being that he would have to stick with his name since he already gave it to an officer. Assuming this world kept track of its citizens Harry's name was now in a police database. It would be suspicious to change it now.

His relief from earlier came back when he remembered that he was a non-entity in this world. No one knew him and the only ones that have seemed to pay particular attention to him are already dead. But even they didn't seem to expect anything of him so far.

He just needed to figure out what to do from now on. He never actually expected to have this kind of freedom so he was a little lost. The only thing he knew was that he had to leave the area and he had to practice so he could protect himself if anything were to happen. First things first though, he'd catch a cab to the next town over to get a hotel; right after he got a map.

As he finished eating and signaled the waitress to pay he wondered if he should be making more plans. Hermione would think that was the smart thing to do but he was more of a think as you go kind of guy. He supposed he could always make out a list of what he needed to do once he got to a hotel.

As the waitress stopped at his table, he handed her the money and tried to figure out where to get a map, or at least a cab.

"Um do you know where I can find a map?" he asked but she just looked at him blankly. "Uh, cab? Taxi? Um, train?" Harry shrugged while spitting out ideas for transportation.

Finally she brightened and rushed back inside while making a wait motion with her hands. When she returned she handed him a map with multiple colored lines on it and pointed to one saying " train", then she pointed down the street and said "big tree" while making a right turn with her hand and pointing back at the map.

He saw the tree she was talking about and smiled at her. "Thank you," then handed her back the map and got up to make his way to the train station.

"Sugu ni kaeru" he heard he say after him. He nodded and left.

When he got to the station he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do so he camped out for an hour by the ticket machines to watch other people get their tickets. Although he didn't know what the words said he at least knew what buttons to push. It probably would have been easier and quicker to ask, he thought, but too late now.

When he finally got on the train he didn't know where he was going but he figured he'd make do. While he was on the train he figured out he was in a place called Yamanashi and would be getting off the train at Kanagawa. But according to the map from the station Kanagawa is next to Tokyo, which is the only city he had known of in Japan, so he figured he was doing pretty well. While he didn't know much about Japan back home at least knew both of them have a Tokyo.

It was only when he stopped to buy his own map on the way to the hotel that he figured out he could have gone straight to Tokyo from Yamanashi, but since he didn't actually have a destination he figured it didn't matter.

The hotel he checked into was actually pretty nice. Even the more run down ones had looked pretty nice compared to what he was used to in the wizarding world. The first thing he did when he opened the door to his room was shuck off his clothes to take a shower. He honestly felt like he hadn't showered in years. While he was showering he took the time to check out the feather on his arm.

He remembered Fawkes vividly. For a bird he was pretty unforgettable. The feather itself still glowed like a subdued fire but he figured that made sense since it was from a fire bird. It gave off slight heat but it didn't hurt anymore. Even the initial burns that were on his arm were now only slightly red patches of skin. It was while he was running his fingers over the glowing feather that he noticed the scar from Voldemort's resurrection was gone. Not a trace of it remained, not even a slight white mark from it possibly fading.

He started to search his body for the other scars that he knew were there and found that none of them remained. He was porcelain pale like he had never seen the sun and never left the house. His hand flew up to his forward but he had never felt his lightning bolt scar before. It was always more like a tattoo than a scar; he knew it was there but he had never felt it before unless it was hurting.

He was actually kind of afraid to look in the mirror to check if it was gone. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to be or not. On the one hand it represented everything bad in his life that had ever happened: his parents deaths, his relatives proof of his freakishness, the pain he felt every time Voldemort was near, heck, even all the bad press and slandering from friend and foe alike.

On the other hand though, it meant he was a survivor. He always did his best to do the right thing even when all the odds were against him. He didn't know if he wanted to give up that reminder.

Instead of looking in a mirror he walked out of the shower and put on the clothes remaining from his days on the run. Then he forcibly pushed the thoughts from his mind and decided to only focus on making a list of what he would do now.

The first thing he wrote was get his power under his control. He knew it was more than likely possible he wouldn't completely master the elder wand within this lifetime. With that thought he pulled the wand out and used pieces of his old shirt to tie the wand over the feather where his wand would normally rest on his forearm. He could feel the two cores struggling against each other but since it wasn't painful he figured he'd leave them alone to work it out and go back to his list.

The second thing he wrote was: Summon someone from my world to test out the stone. The first person he thought of was his mother. But he immediately dismissed it. He had just tried to kill himself after all, and he didn't think he could take seeing her after his failed attempt. Especially since he was now stuck being basically immortal. Along with that thought he dismissed summoning his father, Sirius, and Moony. How could he face Moony knowing that he not only abandoned his son but also stole his son's inheritance?

The more he thought about who to summon the more frustrated he got. He knew he could only summon so many people from that world and he didn't want to waste it on summoning someone who wouldn't be in any way helpful; physically or emotionally. Really he was running on the assumption that he would be able to summon three people as there were three hallows. And hadn't he heard somewhere that three is a magically powerful number? Does that count in this world too? Finally he got too frustrated thinking about it and flipped the paper over to make a pro/con list about staying in Japan or going to see if there was still an England.

Japan:

Pros: it's something new. They take gold here for a high price so no money issues. Polite ghosts.

Cons: Language. Don't know anything about japan. Ghosts.

England: if it exists

Pros: know way around London kind of. Language

Cons: Memories good and bad. Don't know conversion rate. May not actually exist. Probably ghosts, if so, English ghosts.

So the only thing he figured out is that he doesn't know what the hell he wants to do. Great. Actually, instead, he's going to bed. No one ever said sleeping on your problems wasn't helpful, right?


	4. Snape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry summons his first ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured I'd post two chapters today because this one is really really short and ends on a cliffy. There are two more chapters that are pre-written and then it's all on me to write and update on time. The next update will be on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. I might do both chapters at the same time to make up for this cliff hanger.

Chapter 4

When Harry woke up again it was the middle of the night and he freaked out a little. But really, it's not like the first thing on his mind was that he was in a parallel universe. His first thought went more like: **Where he the hell am I?** Then he tried to whip out his wand and remembered that the Elder wand was strapped to his wrist when his hand came up empty; at which point he collapsed back onto the bed and groaned.

"I can't believe I forgot for a second there. Seriously," he whined aloud. Then he remembered what he had been dreaming about.

It had been the day that Snape had died and he had given Harry his memories. The more he thought about Snape the more he thought that he would be the perfect person to summon. Sure Snape was never really anything resembling nice and he had a habit of making Harry feel like he wanted to hit something. But Snape had always, always protected him. He always told Harry when he thought he was doing something stupid. Not to mention that Snape was pretty much a genius at surviving the unknown. You know, not including the irony of a potions master dying from a snake bite.

But really, Snape would be able to help Harry survive in this new world, and could probably give him information on his dead family if Harry could get through his snarky attitude. It was perfect.

(Harry conveniently forgot that Snape never really gave him information until the end.)

* * *

Grinning to himself, Harry pulled the pouch from around his neck and emptied it on the bed to search for the stone. There was the cloak, and his shrunken chest, and a larger pile of coins than he thought he had left out of the chest. No matter though, the more money he had before he could unshrink the chest the better. There were even a few changes of clothes, but he couldn't find the stone.

Then he smacked himself in the forehead with his palm when he remembers that the stone had apparently already bonded to his soul. How was he supposed to use in when in the original story the stone had to be turned three times? Maybe if he imagined turning it?

He closed his eyes and tried to picture the stone in his mind and it felt like the stone had jumped up into his throat from his stomach in excitement. He coughed a few times and chanted Snape's name in his mind three times. But when he opened his eyes and looked around he didn't see anyone.

Maybe it needed something else to make it work? He closed his eyes again and pictured Snape in his mind with his billowy robes and piercing eyes and giant bloody nose, **Severus Snape** his mind whispered to him.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing Potter?" he jumped when he heard a voice say.

When he opened his eyes it wasn't what he expected. There was a young child in front of him that was glaring. "Professor?" he asked.

"No Potter, of course not. I'm the other ghost you summoned with the name Severus Snape," the child scowled.

"Oh, I didn't think it was a common name," Harry mumbled, "I'm sorry to have called you. I meant to call someone else."

"Oh for Merlin's sake Potter, I always knew you were a dunderhead but no one agreed with me. Of course it's me. You even pictured me in your mind stupid boy."

"Oh, um, right, but why are you a child?" Harry asked.

If anything it seemed like Snape scowled harder, "Why did you call me Potter?"

Harry sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "I don't really know how to survive on my own Professor," he admitted. He figured it wouldn't hurt to show humility because he truly needed some help.

It was weird to see his child professor's face soften slightly, "I know Potter, but why me?" he said softly.

"You were the one I thought it was most practical to call."

Snape sighed, "What do you want?"

"I just want to know what I'm supposed to do here. I can't even speak the language so I don't know what anyone is saying. There are ghosts pretty much everywhere. This is actually some parallel universe so I can't even go back home, I've already spent time in a police station, and did I mention all the bloody ghosts?" Harry started to ramble.

A piercing whistle cut through the air and Harry's talking jerked to a stop. "First. Calm down." Snape said. "If this is a parallel universe then you can do whatever you want to do Potter. There are no pressing issues at the moment so you have time to think. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know professor. I figured one of the first things I should do is…" Harry abruptly stopped as Snape seemed to disappear on the spot.


	5. Death's first messenger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think from now on I am going to try to update on Wednesdays and Saturdays so wish me luck with keeping to a schedule!
> 
> Snape may be out of character in this fanfic because I'm working with him after death and he moved on and resolved all his issues. His attitude problems that remain are just his basic attitude, but he doesn't actually hate Harry or anything, he is just a grumpy person.
> 
> Let me know if y'all find any errors, I still don't have a beta

Chapter 5

Harry spent the next half hour pacing up and down his room from door to window with his eyes closed and trying to call Snape back. It's safe to say he was officially worried. What if calling Snape had gotten him hurt?

At that moment child Snape popped back into the room and Harry rushed up to him and looked him over. He was extremely pale and lightly shivering so Harry took him into his arms and rubbed his back to help him warm up. It didn't occur to him that he was actually touching and holding a ghost, let alone Snape.

"Really Potter, I'm not actually a child. Last I counted I was actually a lot older than you. Now let me go," Snape snapped.

Harry released him quickly and backed away. "What happened? You just disappeared! You're so pale!"

Snape just sighed. "You do know Potter, that I'm a ghost right? I'm going to be extremely pale and cold to the touch because I'm dead and don't generate body heat," he said condescendingly.

"I'm not stupid professor! I know that. But you were shivering and everything and I didn't think things could affect you like that!"

It was weird to see Snape's child ghost body sit on the bed but that's exactly what he did. "You summoned me Potter, and because I was the first, it made me different from other ghosts apparently. I was just informed by your predecessor what my role is to be in your life whether I like it or not. It's bad enough my life was pretty much dedicated to your survival when I was still breathing but now I have to spend my afterlife looking after you too!" Snape was getting agitated and glaring at Harry.

"What do you mean professor? You don't have a choice?"

"I've just been informed by Death that my afterlife is in your hands. Apparently I'm yours to order!" he snarled.

"I would never do that professor. I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to. It's not right to not have a choice in your own life!" Harry yelled, then as an afterthought added, "or your afterlife."

Snape sighed again and collapsed back onto the bed.

"How are you doing that professor? I thought that ghost's in this world couldn't affect physical things. I mean I've seen them pass through signs on the street and everything. There was even this one guy I passed by who was trying to catch some birds on the side of the road and he kept going right through them," Harry laughed.

"Listen closely Potter, because I have no choice but to trust your word that you'll let me make my own choices. Death told me that because I was the first ghost that you ever summoned with the stone that your soul has cradled mine and I will not be allowed to be reborn until you release me. However, when you do release me I will be put automatically into the rebirth cycle. I'm not ready to be reborn yet Potter. There are still people I want to get to know in Death's realm."

"So you want me to keep you professor?"

"Don't interrupt Potter. Let me finish before you ask questions. I'm still your professor you know, even though I'm dead. Getting back on topic; I can now pass through the veil of death to wherever you are whenever you call me Potter. But don't go calling me all the time because I have to spend at least 48 hours in your presence before I can go back to the afterlife. Now, Death shoved a lot of information in my brain about the stone and the ghosts in this world and what abilities you can look forward to. Now ask your questions."

Harry nodded. "Professor, can we set up a regular schedule for me to call you while I get myself together in this world? I don't know how time works in the afterlife but in real life you had been dead for less than a year when I decided to walk through the veil and…"

Snape interrupted him there, "Why did you walk through the veil Potter? I always took you for an idiot but I didn't honestly think you were suicidal. Is this something I have to look forward to? "

"Why do you get to interrupt me but I can't interrupt you?"

"Answer the question Potter."

Harry sighed, "It's not so much that I wanted to die professor. I just didn't want to have to deal with being Harry Potter anymore. Even after Tom died that world thought they could ask anything of me and I would obey. Dumbledore, that manipulative bastard, had me raised so that I was grateful to the wizarding world and would be willing to sacrifice anything for them. But I'm not. I know I still had loved ones professor, who will miss me, but time still moved after Tom's death and without peril hounding our heels we talked less and less and my loved ones moved on while I was still stuck in the war. I was angry and hurt that no one would give me time to move on myself without hounding me every minute for something they wanted. The only one I regretted leaving was Teddy, but I thought on the other side of the veil I wouldn't have people always looking to me and needing me to do something. I would have my family and I would find happiness. But obviously, that's not what happened."

"I see. So that's what you were thinking. I'm glad that it wasn't because you wanted to die specifically Potter. Suicide is never the answer."

"Not that it matter's now professor; I'm pretty much going to be immortal until the next Death comes along after me and that could be millennia, so I won't get to see my family anyway."

"Don't be so dramatic Potter, your parents will eventually be reborn and you may see them in another world. Besides you could always call on them here. This _is_ your only lifetime where you can call souls from that world."

"Can we get back on topic professor? You never answered my question," Harry changed the topic.

"Yes we can set up a schedule Potter, but don't consider this topic dropped. I'm pretty much the only one you can talk to like this right now. But back on topic, why don't I just tell you what I know instead."

"It'll probably be faster," Harry agreed.

"Your brain was changed during the time that you spent in the veil to make way for new abilities that come with each hallow. I only know anything about the stone because that is the hallow that I am connected to within your soul. To break it down, you can talk to any ghost here and they cannot lie to you. At the same time, your brain will process the language that the ghost is speaking and you will be able to pick it up. However, and this is lucky for you because you were abhorrent at this when I was alive, your body's transition into the next Death has already occluded your mind. You should be able to now sort your thoughts and protect them. So you will not know the language fluently until you sort it behind your shields."

"The only hindrance about the ghosts of this world is that some of them have learned to avoid Death and not move on. These ones are different from the kind you see on the street. The common ones that you see everywhere are spirits. Not a spirit like in our world though. The spirits here are more like imprints of a person in life. They still have the thought processes and like the same things as they did in life. They aren't malicious and they fade naturally unless they have been caught in a particularly spiritual area. Those spirits might need help to move on but are still not particularly malicious."

"The other types of ghosts you may encounter are the malicious kind. They go by many different names depending on their abilities, but they all have one thing in common. Their souls, or a part of their souls, are still bound to the Earth. Because the magic is so potent here, people who die and choose not to move on can manipulate their souls to take in the energy of the earth. Souls are not supposed to do that because it warps them and makes their already warped thought processes from dying even worse"

"So what am I supposed to do?" Harry asked wide eyed.

"It is not your responsibility to go seek out these souls Potter. If you run across them or if someone asks for help then of course you are free to do as you wish. But this world was revolving long before you came here and will keep functioning after you leave. When you become Death your purview will be departed souls. Others, human or not, will take care of the souls left here."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't really want to go out looking for souls that were causing trouble. It would be like being an auror with no reward. Of course if he came across one he would do anything in his power to help, but really he wouldn't want to do it 24/7.

"The only thing left to let you know is that I have become one of Death's messenger's to you. Death cannot talk to you often because you are still alive and things decay in his presence. Oh don't look so shocked Potter, that won't happen to you until you are officially Death yourself. His presence is even hard on me and the only reason I can handle him speaking to me directly is because I have been granted your automatic protection from everything that could harm me."

"Well that's a relief sir. I wouldn't want you to get hurt because of me."

"You don't listen very well Potter," Snape mumbled, "I'd have no reason to be hurt if you hadn't called me."

Harry didn't hear him though and decided that they should change the topic to what he should do from now on. He only had Snape here with him for two days and who knows when he would be able to call him again. It was time to get to figure out how to sort his mind so he could learn the language.


	6. Started a rewrite

Hey guys I started a rewrite of this story. The first chapter will be posted right after this. The premise is exactly the same, I just started it a little earlier time line wise. I really didn't like the quality of writing I was posting (mostly because I kept writing in the middle of the night and not even checking after I finished a chapter) so I decided to just start over. The further along I got in writing the updates the more I started to hate the story. But I really loved the premise so I just decided to do it better this time. Still definitely looking for a beta though.

The story is under the same name and as I said, timeline wise it will be about a year before I originally planned so Harry can get established before meeting any of the Ghost Hunt characters. But I still will not be doing a rewrite with Harry in the original story line, and he won't even meet a majority of the main characters until likely the bloody labyrinth case.

Hope you guys check out the rewrite!

Lee


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